Nov 11, 2013 16:34
10 yrs ago
Russian term

чудь белоглазая

Russian to English Art/Literary History Local region description
The text is a pamphlet on Altai Krai sightseeing. The abstract below describes a small region, Krasnoshchekovo district. The highlighted term seems to be quoted from some unknown source, presumably a spoken phrase of the locals.

Земля пещер и родников – так называют свой район краснощековцы. На заповедной земле жили древние рудознатцы, ***«чудь белоглазая»***. Мыли золото «беглые» крестьяне. Охраняли Рудный Алтай казачьи форпосты.

Thanks for your variants!

Discussion

Rachel Douglas Nov 12, 2013:
Thanks for pointing out... ... the quotation marks! Didn't notice them before, because of the asterisks. They change everything (but I don't have a new idea). I do think, however, that if a translator is doing a TOURISM BROCHURE it is absolutely appropriate to avoid translating potentially offensive language literally. Because the people it might offend are potential customers. Usually someone who hires you to translate promotional material will appreciate your sensitivity to such matters.
MariyaN (X) Nov 12, 2013:
Re: savages A translator should stick to the original in both meaning and style. "Чудь белоглазая" is not a particularly politically correct term, but essentially, "savages" is what it means - some unknown (= possibly weird people), very different from the group the speaker (=the user of the term) belongs to. Whether it's offensive or not is beyond discussion - a translator cannot change the original for the reason of it sounding offensive to the translator or is considered offensive in the society the translator belongs to. Trying to convert a historical term into a poilitically correct modern day version would be a mistranslation because it would kill both the meaning and the style. Besides, the author of this particular text uses the term with quotation marks which is supposed to mean that it's either a quote or is supposed the emphasize the fact that the author is aware of the term being rather historically specific or exotic.
Alexandra Schneeuhr Nov 11, 2013:
О! А вот о географии я, увлекшись этимологией, ни разу не задумалась... позорище ). Тогда пусть будет дословное white-eyed chudes, а англоязычные читатели брошюры пусть поломают голову ;)
MariyaN (X) Nov 11, 2013:
Не говоря уже о том, где находится Алтай, а где проживали финно-угорские племена.
Это стоит перевести каким-нибудь выражением, которое используется для обозначения собирательного образа неизвестного племени, которое где-то там живёт, но про которое никто ничего толком не знает.
Alexandra Schneeuhr Nov 11, 2013:
Exactly! It is important not to confuse these two, as I pointed out in my answer. But since mythical, fairy-tale 'white-eyed chud' couldn't really populate the area described, the only other realistic version would be the Chudes (Chud tribes).
Silk Road Trans (asker) Nov 11, 2013:
Chudes are not "чудь белоглазая" http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чудь_белоглазая

Proposed translations

+1
1 hr
Selected

the Chudes

According to Wiki, "in Russian folk legends, the Chudes were described as exalted and beautiful. One characteristic of the Chudes was 'white-eyed', which means lightly-colored eyes", but unless absolutely necessarily I'd leave the 'white-eyed' part out in this particular context...(?)

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-11-11 18:07:45 GMT)
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Oops... I've just noticed that the links are missing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chud
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чудь

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Note added at 1 hr (2013-11-11 18:20:36 GMT)
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And one more note:
'The white-eyed Chud' is at times described as some mythical people, "the pagan raw meat-eaters”, not to be confused with early Finno-Ugric 'Chud' tribes (pls see the first paragraph of the below article), however I'm quite positive that this version won't fit your context where the author means the authentic Chudes but uses a somewhat dubious term to describe them ))

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чудь_белоглазая

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Note added at 3 hrs (2013-11-11 20:26:41 GMT)
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С учетом дискуссионных заметок предлагаю именно для вашего текста вариант "the white-eyed Chudes", а там хоть трава не расти ;)

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Note added at 18 hrs (2013-11-12 10:57:32 GMT)
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Забавно, но второй день не могу успокоиться – вопрос-то прелюбопытнейший! Все говорит за то, что речь идет о мифическом племени ("В древние времена жила на Алтае белоглазая чудь, селилась в ямах в лесу, прятала под землей клады. Искусна была чудь во многих ремеслах, умела железо уговаривать, с серебром-золотом дружить. Но вот зацвело по Алтаю небывалое дерево — белая береза, и пришел с ним Белый царь войну воевать. Не захотела чудь остаться под Белым царем; ушла под землю и завалила проходы каменьями"), однако в оригинале о проживании этих товарищей на территории Краснощекова говорится как о реальном факте, что, вероятно, и ввело не одну меня в заблуждение. Пожалуй, поскольку народец - сказочный, а самая известная сказка о нем озаглавлена все же "Легенда о Белой (а не о "белоглазой"!) Чуди", то и более политкорретным переводом-переложением будет The White Chudes.

С другой же стороны... все легенды так или иначе основаны на фактах. Если есть сибирские эстонцы, то отчего бы мифической "белоглазой" алтайской чуди не иметь хоть чего-нибудь да общего с исторически рельной чудью финно-угорского происхождения. ("It seems it was not that long ago, maybe half a thousand years ago, when a nation called Chudes lived here before the Russians and Tunguses. They were a healthy and strong nation, they turned round large chunks of land barehanded to get the copper and silver." Источник: http://lepo.it.da.ut.ee/~lehti/Oralhistory/1.7.Astrid.htm)

В общем, решать вам, но ИМХО любые варианты, включающие в себя Chudes/White Chudes/White-eyed Chudes вполне себе имеют право на существование.

:)

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Note added at 21 hrs (2013-11-12 14:02:28 GMT)
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Ну и чудесно. Спасибо вам за интересный вопрос! ))
Note from asker:
Да, пожалуй, это наиболее близко к истине. Скорее всего, возьму собирательное "the white-eye Chud".
Peer comment(s):

agree cyhul
3 days 8 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks for the vivid discussion!"
1 hr

(pale-eyed) Finno-Ugric tribesmen

I guess usually "blue-eyed," so you could write that. Or leave out their eye color or other physical attributes (e.g., "fair coloring," etc.).

Also, if "tribesmen" sounds too crude, it could be "of Finno-Ugric ethnicity."
Peer comment(s):

neutral Andrew Vdovin : I don't think they were Finno-Ugric, since it's Altai.
7 hrs
Uralic (incl. Finno-Ugric) lang are now differentiated fr Altaic, but formerly Ural-Altaic was a group. Karamzin used "чудь" for Finns (Laplanders) Don't know if Finns ranged so far SE & author means fair-complexioned Finns; or if it's the fairy-tale term
Something went wrong...
19 hrs

fairy folk

Compare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_Sí
'Savage' or 'wild' connotations will not work here, since the mound people were conceptualized considered a high (relative to subsequent inhabitants) and ancient lost culture throughout Eurasia. The same is true for Chudes, Sirtya, etc.

If it is important to impart elements of "tourist mythology" (likely invented by the author of the text using examples from further west), one could use "white-eyed Chudes" but it must always appear with quotation marks.

In any case, it is likely there never have been proper (Finnic) Chudes in the Altai, and no light-eyed people as well. So to avoid breeding controversial ethnography, it might be better to substitute generic fairy folk.
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